The Pike Liberal Arts junior varsity defeated Crenshaw Christian 5-0 in the opening round of the state tournament on the campus of Macon East.

The Patriots advance into the winners bracket where they will play today at noon against a team still to be determined.

“We did a pretty good job,” said head coach Jonathon Valdez. “We started the game doing the right things.”

Valdez took a conservative approach and made sure his pitchers still could pitch today.

“We had multiple pitchers,” Valdez said. “We wanted everybody available for the next round of the tournament. We tried to keep the pitchers under the 25 pitch limit.”

Five pitchers threw for the Patriots: Brooks Spivey, Landon Thrash, Holt Steed, Drew Nelson and JD Wilson who finished the game.

At the plate Davis Allen went 2-2, as did Jackson Blair and Levi Sikes.

“We hit with the stick pretty good,” Valdez said. “We did the right things and we executed. They put the ball in play with men on bases. We put ourselves in the position to score early in the game.”

The Patriots are confident they will be able to keep up the good work tomorrow in round two.

“(Today) is a new game and a new approach,” Valdez said. “We are hoping to play two games tomorrow and get to the finals. Tomorrow is about execution. Pitchers need to throw strikes.”